Jack Ma said quality of Chinese fakes is higher compared to authentic goods

Founder of Alibaba Group Jack Ma said that quality of fake goods sold in the company’s online stores is higher than that of the original products. Head of the world's largest online retailer has assured that nobody in the world could fight against counterfeiting better than Alibaba does.

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Many times Alibaba Group has been accused in neglectful attitude to sale of famous brands’ counterfeits in online stores presented at the website. Manufacturers have repeatedly appealed to the court on this issue (in the past year, for example, there was French Kering, which owns brands Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent).

However, the online retailer’s founder Jack Ma said on Tuesday that Chinese fakes today are not only equal to the genuine items, but, in fact, have become even better. And it is this, according to Mr. Ma, prevents the company from getting rid of the counterfeiters.

"The problem is that counterfeit goods today are made better, and are offered at a more reasonable prices than the original stuff with big names," - he said at a conference of corporate investors. Alibaba’s Head explained that the current situation is a result of policies of the European and American companies, who for decades have enjoyed cheap labor of China. They had brought all their production into the country, and it is no wonder that eventually the Chinese products started to reproduce well-known brands: "They use the same factories, the same material, but they do not use brands... And they (manufacturers of the original products) are being destroyed not by fakes, but ... by the business model ", - said Mr. Ma.

In May, Alibaba Group's membership in a non-profit organization "International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition" has been suspended. Some members of the organization said that the Chinese Internet giant is not making much progress in the fight against fake goods, which regularly appear on the corporation’s website. In response, Alibaba has assured that it has everything needed for a successful fight against counterfeiting, and no one else would be able to achieve more in this area: "We cannot completely solve the problem as we have to deal with human nature. But we will cope with this task better than any government, any organization, even than anyone else in the world ", - said Jack Ma. As a confirmation, the company presented results of its cooperation with the Chinese law enforcement authorities. In 2015, Alibaba rendered assistance in 300 arrests and closure of 46 outlets where counterfeit products were made. The total amount of confiscated goods amounted to $ 125 million.